Offshore staff

DUBLIN, Ireland – Providence Resources (PVR:Aim) has encountered hydrocarbon shows in its Barryroe appraisal well off southern Ireland.

These came to light following a resumption of drilling on the 12¼-in. section early this month – operations had been suspended due to weather and rig performance issues.

Well 48/24-10z is being drilled in 100 m (328 ft) water depth in license SEL 1/11 in the North Celtic Sea basin, 50 km (31 mi) offshore. Ccurrent well depth is 6,969 ft (2,124 m) TVDSS at the base of the 12¼-in. section, with all key geological horizons to date having been met in line with pre-drill depth prognosis.

According to Providence, the 12¼-in. section contains various potential secondary reservoir units. Preliminary real time LWD data has revealed strong sandstone package correlation with the nearby 48/24-3 well.

Next steps will include a comprehensive wire-line data acquisition program of this drilled section, after which the section will be cased.

Subsequently, the partners plan coring of the underlying primary reservoir zone, which is the main focus of this well, followed by drillstem testing of the primary basal sands target in order to determine flow rates and productivity.

Providence CEO Tony O’Reilly said: “The 48/24-10z preliminary well results indicate the presence of hydrocarbons within the secondary objective overlying our main basal sandstone target. We will evaluate and integrate these well data with our newly processed 3D seismic in order to fully assess its incremental resource potential.”

2/9/2012